Pineapple Poker

A version of hold’em where players get 3 hole cards and have to discard one of them before the flop.

Since players get dealt 3 cards instead of 2, it provides more opportunities to make a strong hand much like in omaha. Lots of pots are contested multi-way where at least one player will flop a flush draw and will get good enough odds to chase their draw.

A popular variant of Pineapple is called Crazy Pineapple Poker, with the main difference being players must wait until after the second round of betting is complete before discarding one of their starting hole cards. From there, every player has 2 hole cards just like in hold’em and from there the game plays in a very similar manner, the best five-card poker hand wins.

In addition to traditional Pineapple Poker and Crazy Pineapple Poker there is Crazy Pineapple Hi/Lo, a split game where half of the pot goes to the best (high) hand, and the other half goes to the worst (low) hand. Crazy Pineapple is quite often played in hi/lo versions.

Although you don’t see Pineapple poker games spread at many casinos, a lot of people like to play this poker variant in home games because it’s an exciting poker game to play with lots of action.

If you’re interested in playing this poker game online, a list of the best poker rooms for Pineapple Poker can be found at crazypineapplepoker.org.